Words: Josefina Salomón
Although they represent a minority in the context of Latin America’s prison population, women are its fastest growing group. Karla Salazar Sánchez, researcher and Director of FLACSO Costa Rica, says that many come from marginalized backgrounds, are heads of households and committed non-violent crimes. In addition, after serving their sentences, they face the challenge of overcoming, often without support, the marginalization that in part led them to committing crimes in the first place.
We spoke with Salazar Sánchez –who will take part in a panel at the international seminar organized by Amassuru ‘Organized crime in Latin America from a feminist approach’ on 22 November– about how women experience prison and the effectiveness of some of the alternative policies that some countries are implementing.
In.Visibles (IV): How would you describe the situation of women’s imprisonment in Latin America?
Karla Salazar Sánchez (KSS): What we see is a marked increase in the female prison population, particularly in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, the United States and Uruguay.
In Central America and in particular in Costa Rica, which are my areas of study, what we see is a big wake-up call. Between 2000 and 2022, the female prison population increased by 60%, while the overall prison population rose by 30%. In addition, we know that the majority of women are being deprived of their liberty for crimes associated with organized crime, particularly in relation to drug trafficking, most of them occupying the most vulnerable and precarious positions.
All of this is partly because there is a tendency among the population to think that imprisonment is the most appropriate way to deal with crime, so they are looking for speedier trials and harsher sentences.
IV: What about prison conditions?
KSS: Yes, that’s also an issue. There’s overcrowding as a consequence of increased incarceration but also other issues related to how women live in the prisons, particularly as the prison system has a male logic. What do we see there? The lack of proper attention to women’s health issues, also issues around pregnant women and those who have children while they are deprived of their liberty, which means that often children are either raised in these contexts or away from their mothers which generates many challenges. Women, even when they are inside prison, continue to be the main carers for their families, which becomes challenging.
IV: Why do women end up in prison?
KSS: If we look at the profile of women deprived of their liberty, we are generally talking about young women, heads of household, with low levels of education and, generally, with histories of precarious work.
These women generally commit crimes related to their economic situation and, generally, less violent or of a sexual nature, which have different logics. We see that they are women who are looking at how to solve immediate problems, how to pay the rent, how to feed their children. One woman who was imprisoned once told me: “I had already been giving sugar water to my children for three days, so I needed to find a solution”. In this context, and with Costa Rica as an important transit country, the sale of drugs appears as an option.
In addition, we have to think about what happens to these women when they serve their sentences, what systems are in place to receive them, what reintegration options they have, which are very limited. Once they are released, what are the paths for women not to reoffend? There are none.
IV: It creates a kind of vicious circle…
KSS: Of course, it deepens the marginalisation. Many of them have told me that because they have a criminal record (that lasts 10 years) finding a job becomes much more difficult. In addition, we have to think that the issue of education has not necessarily been resolved. So, this logic of informal jobs is reproduced, jobs that are really just for basic subsistence, that do not guarantee anything and that do nothing to resolve this cycle of marginalization in which these women have been for most of their lives.
IV: How does the experience of men and women in prisons differ?
SSK: Here in Costa Rica at least, the prison experience is very different for men than it is for women. Men speak of feeling constant fear inside the prison. One once told me: “You have to sleep with one eye open”, and there is also a very high perception of corruption among prison staff. With women, there is a feeling of greater tranquillity, they even generate better bonds and do not sleep with the fear that at any moment someone is going to kill them. You can’t generalize, but that’s what I found, at least in Costa Rica.
IV: Throughout the region we are seeing how criminal organizations are co-opting prisons as spaces to establish themselves, recruit members, expand and operate from. Are these phenomena exclusive to male prisons?
SSK: I don’t think that women’s prisons are exempt from the permeation of these types of organizations, the issue is that the connections that women have with these groups is different to the ones men have. There are two main categories: Women who are leaders and those who are more instrumental. The latter are women who follow instructions to the letter, who do not make decisions and who do not see themselves as part of the groups. So, when they enter prison, they do not maintain the links with the groups with whom they used to collaborate and they do not have the elements to reproduce the logic of these structures within the prisons.
On the other hand, women who have leadership roles, such as area managers, distributors, who have people working for them, either for sales, or even for distribution and all the related activities that may exist in this type of market, that is where there could be more possibility of expansion within the prison, but it is not very widespread either.
I was interviewing a lady who did have a leadership position. She was linked to one of the most important gangs here in Costa Rica. She did mention that she reproduced a bit of the gang’s logic inside the prison and that at one time she continued to answer to her group while deprived of her liberty. But I think that these are exceptional cases and that within female prisons, organizations have not had the power that they have had in men’s prisons.
IV: Costa Rica and Colombia have implemented policies that offer alternatives to prison for women involved in drug trafficking offences. What do you think about these approaches?
KSS: These policies are certainly necessary. I believe that they represent progress, albeit timid, in terms of bringing us closer to thinking about prisons from a different perspective and not exclusively from a male perspective. Because this also allows us to think not only about gender issues, but also about issues related to class.
I think we need to think first about how to prevent women from ending up in prison and then, what we do with them once they leave the prison system.
IV: Finally, what’s your outlook for the future?
KSS: I think that progress is being made in raising awareness of how gender plays a role in crime and the use of prisons. This needs to be further developed and used to support discussions and decision-making progresses that should include women.
There is a lot to do, but I think we should not give up.
This interview has been summarised and edited for clarity.
Amassuru’s international seminar: ‘Organised crime in Latin America from a feminist approach’ will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 22 November. Details to subscribe and access the online transmission of the event are available here.
